What Happened To Those Guys?
by JasperJThomas
Summary: The TARDIS arrives on the planet Psamathe. The Doctor discovers that a whole city has not been responding communications. This is revealed to be part of a dastardly plan.
1. Bob Hull

The planet Psamathe was a desert planet inhabited by colonists from Earth. Inside a small cabin on that planet, Bob Hull sat on his sofa, next to his wife. His two children, John and Edward sat on the floor. The television in front of them showed an exciting new drama. He couldn't pay any attention to any of it. He was thinking too much about their friends over in the other city. They hadn't heard anything from them in days. He was very worried. He looked over at Summer, his wife, and could see that she was terribly worried too. He reached over to hold her tightly and could feel tears coming from her face.

"Don't worry about it," John spoke up. Everything is going to be fine."

"You're right, John," Bob replied, although he knew it wouldn't be. He decided to let his children hold onto their optimism. But he was too mature for optimism. He knew that bad things happened without reason and there was most likely no hope.

Suddenly he heard some sort of metallic thrumming sound which almost gave him a heart attack. A blue box slowly appeared in the room. Bob realised he must be dreaming and decided to wake up, but he couldn't. The blue box looked oddly familiar and had the words "POLICE BOX" written at the top. Perhaps the stress had caused him to go insane, he looked over to Summer and she was just as perplexed as he was. He wasn't the only person that could see it.

The door opened and four people stepped out. An elderly man, possibly in his late fifties; a younger, good-looking man; a young woman who was also good-looking; and a teenage girl, no more than fifteen years old. They were all wearing clothing from the 20th century, although these must be replications as their condition was very good for something hundreds of years old.

The young man opened his mouth, "Hello, we mean you no harm."

"Yes, we only came here by accident," added the woman sincerely.

"Look, grandfather! They have a television!" said the girl and smiled as she sat down to watch the drama.

"Goodness gracious, Susan!" the old man scolded, "Where are your manners!? You can't just sit down and watch someone else's television!"

Bob opened his mouth to speak but found that the words wouldn't come out. "I told you everything would be alright, Daddy!" John called cheerfully, "The police are here to help."

Bob had no idea what to say to that. He had no idea what to say to any of this.

"That's right," said the young man, "We're with the police. Maybe you can explain the problem to us."

Bob knew exactly what to say now, "If you're here to help us, why did your friend just say that you only came here by accident? What sort of jokers are you people and how did you get that box in here?"

"Well, it's rather difficult to explain," said the woman, "but we do mean what we say about not meaning you any harm and if something's wrong we would be more than happy to help."

Bob wasn't sure what to believe. This was the most unusual experience he had ever had in his life. All he knew for sure was that these four people had somehow managed to transmat themselves and this box into his house, the old man had called the girl Susan and she addressed him as her grandfather.

"People in the other town haven't been replying to our messages," Summer explained to the strangers, "We've been wondering what's happened to them."

"Presumably their communications have gone down," replied Susan's grandfather, without any hint of care on his face, "Nothing for us to get ourselves involved in. We'll be on our way now."

"Oh, grandfather, we have to help them! We have to!" Susan begged.

"Sometimes I begin to think young Chesterton and Miss Wright have been a bad influence on you, Susan. Very well, we'll help."

Susan's grandfather turned to Bob and Summer, "In which direction is this other town?"


	2. The City

"It's 2 miles west of here," Hull replied.

"Ah, I see...", said the Doctor before turning away mysteriously, "Then it seems this is a job for young Chesterton and I."

"What about me and Susan?" asked Miss Wright, "We can help too."

"She's right, grandfather, it could be dangerous," added Susan.

"Which is exactly why you're not going," Chesterton finished, "The Doctor's right."

The Doctor nodded to himself. He couldn't put Susan in harm's way. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if something were to happen to her. He knew that Miss Wright would be good company for her while he and Chesterton were away.

He turned to leave the house, "Come along, Chesterton. Let's get cracking."

"Don't worry, Barbara," said Chesterton, "We'll be back before you know we're gone."

"Well..." Miss Wright began, "I do hope you're right. Good luck out there, both of you."

"Grandfather, you have to take us with you!" Susan flung herself towards him, "You're very old now, what if you get tired?"

The Doctor smiled. It was touching that she worried about him in such a way. Susan was a very brave young girl but he couldn't bring her with him.

"Ah, but my age brings with it wisdom, child," he said with devilish smile, "Take care, both of you. Now we must be off."

He turned away and left the building, Chesterton following close behind.

The Doctor and Chesterton arrived in the other city. It looked very empty. This puzzled the Doctor greatly. Something must really have happened, and it was up to him to put things right. Until recently he would have ignored something like this as being none of his business, but spending time around humans had changed him.

"Let's look inside that pub over there," the Doctor pointed.

"I suppose we've got to start somewhere," replied Chesterton.

The Doctor and Chesterton walked into the pub to find the bar area completely destroyed. On the floor were three people on very uncomfortable-looking sleeping bags, one of them had a beard and brown hair, another was a balding black man and the last one was a woman with blonde hair.

"Get out of here, before you're seen," said the bearded man.

"By who?" asked Chesterton, ever inquisitive.

"Indeed," concurred the Doctor.

"By the alien," said the black man.

"What alien?" asked Chesterton.

"Look, we don't know what it is," said the woman, "It came here because this planet has a special type of fuel that's stronger than you'll find in most other places. Samuel sent a message into space promising that we would offer it to anyone in return for some more water. The message was heard, but we didn't get any water. No more than what's needed to keep us alive, anyway."

"But that's horrible!" Chesterton exclaimed.

"More than just horrible," the Doctor began, understanding that these people had been enslaved by whatever alien had arrived on their planet. He contemplated going back in time and stopping this alien before any of this had started, but knew that if he tried he would somehow end up being the cause of it all, "It's evil!"

A man with a large mechanical device on his head and a blank expression on his face walked into the room, "You are not from here. You will be taken to my master. You will serve."

The Doctor ran as fast as he could. He didn't know what was happening here but he knew that being taken to this "master" could only be a bad thing. He looked back just before leaving to see Chesterton try to punch the man only to be knocked back and drop unconscious. He opened the door only to see another man with a similar appliance on his head and the same blank expression.

"What is the meaning of this!?" exclaimed the Doctor, only to be dragged away.


	3. Dalek

Ian woke up dazed and confused. He looked around him, he was surrounded by white walls. The Doctor lay next to him, unconscious. He remembered what happened, they had tried to see if they could find anybody in the pub only to be taken away by people with strange devices on their heads. Something had certainly looked off about those people. He wondered where he had been taken. He decided to wake up the Doctor. He touched the Doctor's face and said, "Doctor."

The Doctor's eyes opened, "Where are we?" he asked.

"I wish I knew," replied Ian truthfully.

A panel opened in the wall and a familiar shape appeared. Small, metallic and angular. It sent chills running down Ian's spine. A Dalek.

"How did you get here!?" shouted the Doctor, rising to his feet.

"Yes, we thought you had all been destroyed." added Ian.

"We were not destroyed. Only our travel machines were deactivated." said the Dalek, monotonously, "I came here to collect a new source of energy. My mission has been completed. You will return with me to Skaro and teach the secret of time travel to the Daleks."

"I would never do something so irresponsible!" bellowed the Doctor, indignantly.

"And what's going to happen to the people here?" asked Ian, "You've ruined their lives."

"Their lives will end. I will activate an explosion that will destroy all life outside of this ship. Inferior beings cannot be allowed to live."

Barbara paced around the Hull family house. Ian and the Doctor had been gone for a very long time. She began to worry. She thought about when her and Ian were both teachers at Coal Hill School and a joke that he had told her once about firemen and hoses. She couldn't remember the punchline but remembered that she had found it hysterical at the time. She then thought about the possibility of Ian now being dead. She shuddered and turned to Susan, "I think we've waited long enough."

"I agree, Miss Wright," replied Susan.

"Then let's go," said Barbara and they left the house.

Barbara and Susan walked into the same pub that the Doctor and Ian had walked into. Barbara was shocked to see people living in such conditions, she wondered what had happened but she had more important things to worry about.

"Excuse me?" Barbara asked, "You wouldn't happen to have seen anybody walk in here, have you?"

"We did," said the bearded man, "But they were taken."

"Who took them?"

"That thing."

"What thing? Where is it?"

"On the other end of this city. You can't miss it."

"Come on, Susan. Let's go."

Barbara and Susan saw a large and metallic object. It was white with gold markings. There was a ramp leading inside. They walked up it.

They stepped into a room to find the Doctor and Ian stuck against a wall. What could have happened to them? Ian looked like he was scared. Barbara felt an intense anger towards whoever could have done this to them.

"Are you alright?" asked Barbara.

"For the moment," replied the Doctor.

"Oh, grandfather!" Susan exclaimed, "How do we get you off of there!?"

"Look inside my left jacket pocket. There should be two small strips of metal in there."

Barbara reached inside and pulled out the two strips. One was red, the other was blue.

"What should I do now?" she aksed.

"Try to push one of them behind my back."

She pushed the blue one in and nothing happened.

"Must be the wrong one." he said, "Try the red one."

She pushed the red one in and this time the Doctor was released.

"Excellent work, my dear." said the Doctor, he took the red strip and used it to free Ian, "Now we have to stop an explosion."

"An explosion!?" exclaimed Barbara.

"That's right," replied Ian, "This ship belongs to a Dalek. It wants to kill everything on this world."

Barbara was in disbelief for a second. Surely all of the Daleks had been wiped out on Skaro. Whatever had happened, she decided they had more important matters to be getting on with.


	4. The Genocide Countdown

The Doctor, Barbara, Ian and Susan marched into the Dalek's control room. They noticed a timer counting down on the wall – the destruction countdown!

"You will be exterminated." said the Dalek.

"I don't think so," replied Ian, plainly.

The Dalek fired on him and he dived for cover. An explosion erupted from the wall behind him. He felt panic taking over. How could they fight something like a Dalek?

The Dalek turned towards him and he ran back down the corridor. While the Dalek was occupied with him the Doctor started tinkering with the controls near the countdown timer. The Dalek swung back round and shot a blazing thunderbolt towards the Doctor. He just managed to get out of the way in time, he could feel the white hot energy flowing past him as the control panel erupted with a roar of sparks. One of the sparks landed in Susan's hair and she screamed. An alarm started blaring.

"Look what you've done!" the Doctor yelled, "Because of you, your weapon is overloading! Those people outside aren't going to die, we are!"

"No," replied the Dalek, "This cannot happen."

But the walls around them continued to explode. The temperature was rising rapidly, they could all feel it.

The Doctor turned to Susan, "Get out of here, child! Now!"

"What about you, grandfather!?"

"I'll be right behind you."

He started pushing her out of the room. Ian realised that he and Barbara needed to do the same thing, "Come on!" he called to her, gesturing towards the door. She nodded and all four of them ran out. The Dalek followed, trying to hit them with its gun. It then started to scream and stopped moving, the mutant inside had been unable to take the heat and its brain melted. The four hurried out the ramp and watched the ship collapse behind them.

Back on the TARDIS, the Doctor fiddled with the controls. "Well, that was quite the adventure, wasn't it?"

"I'll be happy if I don't see another Dalek for the rest of my life," Ian laughed.

"I quite agree. Although something tells me we haven't quite seen the last of them."

"At least we know there are more of them out there now," added Barbara.

"I'd rather be in ignorant bliss." said Susan.

The bearded man from the village woke up in some sort of cell. He tried banging on it. "Where am I!?" he shouted.

"Ewan," a bodiless voice replied, "You have been chosen for our experiments."

"What experiments!?" he called back.

"All will be revealed in good time, my friend." replied the voice, before giving a slight chuckle.


End file.
